


The Red String of Fate

by Laslus



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Case Fic, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Oblivious Dean, Platonic Soulmates, Red String of Fate, Romantic Soulmates, Sam Ships It, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 03:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5811577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laslus/pseuds/Laslus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I’m not an enemy, Dean. I’m fate. And you’ve been running from fate for all your life, but it catches up on you.”</p><p>Or </p><p>There is a string connecting Dean and Cas, a teenager who keeps showing up to Dean and a town that is too happy. Dean is worried.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Red String of Fate

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! I wanted to post this in time for Dean's birthday. In my country it's already the 25th, but on the USA it still is january 24th, so it totally counts. I hope you enjoy it, don't forget to comment and leave kuddles!  
> Happy Birthday Dean!

The impala ran down the road. It was a warn afternoon, and the two brothers were wandering with no route. There had been no strange deaths, no missing people, no case, no anything. They couldn’t remember the last time they had time to relax, enjoy the freedom and…

And there was a girl on the middle of the road.

Dean stepped on the break as fast as he could, twisting the wheel trying to avoid hitting the girl. W _hat the fuck was she doing there?_

“ _Dean_?” shouted Sam holding on the sides of the car for his life “Dean! What are you doing?”

The car stopped a few meters from the girl, who hadn’t moved an inch, staring blankly at the car. She had dark skin and a big, full hair that wasn’t moving with the wind. Dean felt the back of his hair shiver as he stared back at her, but her look was not threatening, if anything, it was curious.

“What the hell, man?” asked Sam

Dean took his eyes out of the girl. “I was trying not to run over that son of a bitch!”

Sam glared worried at Dean. “Who?”

“The girl!”

Sam looked around in confusion. “What girl?

Dean pointed at the road, turning and expecting to see the girl on the road, but no one was there. “That was a girl there! She was about 15 years old, had dark skin and was wearing one of those weird long-sleeved dresses.”

“Dude, what was the last time you had a good night of sleep?” Asked his brother worried.

“She was there, I’m telling you!”

Sam was not convinced, Dean could tell by the look on his eyes, but sighed and opened the glove compartment searching for a map. He stared it for a few minutes, before pointing at a small dot. “There’s a town a few miles from here.  Do you want to stop and check?”

“Damn Right I do!” he said, turning the car back on and putting Baby back on the road.

They arrived at a crappy motel by the entrance of town, and Sam disappeared to take a shower as soon as they so much entered the room. Dean sat on the bed, and Sam’s laptop was open on his lap before he could even think about what to google.

“Dean Winchester” said a female voice somewhat familiar, making Dean jump on his feet, dropping the laptop on the floor and grabbing the gun by his side.

Right before him was the girl he had seen on the road. Blue, long-sleeved dress, brown and curly hair, dark skin. Her face still showed no expression except for her glowing eyes, which had some traces of curiosity and annoyance of someone who stared at a puzzle for too long.

“Who are you?” he shouted, pointing the gun at her face “What do you want?”

“Why do you make things do difficult, Dean Winchester?” she asked absent minded, not seeming to care about the gun at her face

Dean shot her.

She wasn’t there by the time the bullet hit the wall.

Sam stumbled out of the bathroom, dripping water and holding a towel unsteadily over his waist. He had a knife on his hand and would probably look more fearful if not for his wet hair covering face like a fringe. He pulled his hair with one hand, trying not to leave combat mode.

“What happened?”

“She was here,” said Dean, lowering his gun “She said something about me making everything harder. She knew my name.”

“Do you think it was a vengeful spirit?” asked Sam, lowering his knife as well

Dean walked around the small room, gun still in hand. “No cold spots, no suffer… No I don’t. She didn’t look vengeful… Or a spirit-y, for that matter.”

“Demon?” suggested Sam.

“Since when demons can vanish in plain site? No, there would be a body, or at least black smoke.”

Sam looked at him hesitantly “Dean, are you sure you…”

“I saw her, ok? I’m not crazy!” He looked at his hands while he said it, as if looking for something on his fingers.

“Sure. Ok, ok… Are your hands fine?”

Dean looked up surprised, his hands still half raised. “What? Oh, yeah, it’s nothing, I just…”

“Just?”

“It’s nothing. Well we have a job here, we can start by looking for anything that has the power to disappear.”

“Could be a trickster.”

Dean shivered.

“Let’s hope not, I don’t feel like dying a hundred times again.”

The following day rose, and they had discovered nothing. It could be an Augurey, or a Demiguise, but it could also be a Trickster or even an Angel, so really, they had nothing. At least they had a bed to sleep (and Sam made sure that Dean had actually a few hours of sleep, instead of staying awake to prove he wasn’t insane). They were buried in internet blogs and websites, and Sam promised Dean that, _yes,_ they were going to call Cas next morning and _yes_ they were going to interview locals to make sure nothing odd was going on.

Dean woke him up with two cups of coffee and a bag of pretzels on his hands, and _hey_ , it was nowhere as great as waking up on his bed at the bunker, but it was a bed and it was food.

“I asked to the owner if he had seen anything odd,” said Dean, shoving the pretzel on his mouth before his voice tone became sarcastic “but all I got was how weird it was that the mayor’s daughter has now a girlfriend. Apparently, they met yesterday at his coffees shop, and _wow,_ he had known that girl since she was a little bird”

Sam laughed over his coffee. “Old town’s gossip is the best gossip.”

“Yeah, thanks Samantha, but that’s not what we need right now.”

“Jerk. Have you called Cas?”

“Bitch. And no, I was waiting for us to gather any info on the town.”

“Call him. He might help. Maybe he can see the girl, you know.”

“Yeah, angel mojo is always a great help”

Dean picked his phone and dialled the angel’s number, getting up from his bed to walk around the very small room, pacing back and forth.

“Dean” said the voice on the other line, and Dean smiled softly.

“Hey Cas, how you doing?”

“I’m fine, what is the issue?”

“Sam and I are working on this case, but we have nothing. If you could…”

Before he finished his sentence, the angel was in his room, right in front of him, cell phone still on his ear. It was a familiar enough setting: Castiel a few inches in front of him; big, blue eyes staring into his, hand still holding the phone on his ear. There was something odd, however: a bright, red string hanging on his finger, turning around on his arm and falling to the ground, going towards Dean.

He dropped his own phone and starred at his hand. The other end of the string was on his finger, so softly tied as if it didn’t weight a single pound. He blinked, and he could see two other strings around his fingers, both blue, not as bright and not as vibrant as the red one. He blinked again, and they were all gone. He lifted his head to look at Cas, and pretended his heart didn’t skip a beat when he saw the blue eyes staring back.

“Did you see this?” asked Dean “Please tell me you saw this.”

“I did” answered the angel “It seemed there was a rope of sorts tying us.”

“What?” asked Sam, staring in confusion at both men.

“Hello, Sam” smiled Cas with a wave “I believe this is to do with this case you’ve been working on?”

“Probably.” Answered Dean “We have _nada_ on this thing. It’s not a demon, not a spirit, not a ghost, but that’s about all we know.”

“Start from the beginning”.

It didn’t take more than ten minutes before the brothers had filled Cas in what had happened. The Angel seemed as clueless as them, which was somewhat terrifying.

“We should split. You and Cas can talk to people, and I can stop by the library and call any contact we might still have.”

“Sounds like a plan, enjoy your books.” Smiles Dean

They decided they would go under as ordinary bloggers doing some work on day-by-day at small cities – from the dirty gossips to the old, traditional couples living the good old apple-pie life. First place they stopped was a small restaurant – it was familiar and adorable and smelled good enough to make Dean feel hungry. They sat at a table between a young couple, clearly on a date (the men stared at the woman with adoration on his eyes and her look was not different) and a table with three adults laughing and talking like a squad of teens.

“Hello, I’m Angie, what can I get you two today?” asked the waitress with a bright smile. She had her light hair on a tall ponytail and her blue eyes were as bright as her smile

Dean instinctively smiled at her, moving his body forward on the table “What do you suggest?”

Angie winked playfully “the pie here is to die for.”

Cas laughed, turning to the woman “A piece of pie and two coffees, then, please.”

“Sure thing, I shouldn’t take long.”

Dean watched her go, staring at her back and legs on her blue-and-white dress, fighting the feeling of looking straight back to Cas.

“Maybe what’s wrong with this town is that everyone is so _happy._ " He said

“Being happy is hardly a crime, Dean.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s just a joke, Cas” Answered Dean, his eyes still lingering at Angie. She was talking to another costumer: a woman around the same age as she, dark hair and red lipstick. Their smiles showing, loud and clear, that Dean had about no chance at all with the cute waitress.

Dean let a sight and turned to look back to the men in front of him, who was staring around with the huge, blue eyes.

“I don’t think this is an Angel’s doing” said Cas “There is nothing on the radio, and there doesn’t look like there is any sight of divine magic.”

“This shit is crazy, Cas” said Dean. With a blink, he could see the lines on his finger again. The bright, red one connecting him with Cas without much knots and spins. From the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of strings everywhere: red and blue. With another blink it was all gone.

He opened his mouth to ask Cas, but Angie was back at his table, with two mugs filled with coffee and a plate with a huge slice of pie and two forks, which she settled in the middle of the table.

“So…” She started with a smile “What brought you to our old, silly town?”

“That obvious we’re not from here?” asked Dean with a laugh, grabbing a fork and a piece of pie.

“Small town. I’d have noticed a cute couple like you.”

Dean did not blush, nor choke with his pie. No. Not at all. It took him a while of coughing to open his mouth to correct her. He and Cas were _not_ a couple, in any circumstance. But Cas was faster, smiling back.

“We just want to write about the daily life of smalls towns. You know, gossip, domestically.”

“Oh, you’re writers?” She asked with bright eyes

“We own a blog, yes.”

She pulled a grimace “Came to the wrong city them. Nothing especial ever happens here, but it’s a nice place to live.” She glanced at the dark-haired lady sitting at the balcony “If you two need anything, just call me.”

“Dude, why didn’t you correct her? Now she thinks we are a couple!”

Cas frowned “What different does that make? She is clearly interested in someone else.” He pointed, looking at the waitress, who was now talking again to the lady at the balcony.

Dean growled, taking another huge bite of pie and filling his mouth. They tried to talk to some other costumers, but they were all to wrapped up on their friends or dates, and none of them seemed to know anything weird. It was all meaningless gossip: Jorge is engaged, Julia is moving to California, Clara is dating. Nothing odd or out of the ordinary, but Cas pretended to write everything down with a focused look on his face.

“I don’t get it.” Said Dean a couple of hours after they left the dinner, walking at the park shoulder to shoulder “I mean, you saw the strings as well, right? There is _something_ going on here.”

Cas stopped on spot, making Dean trip over his own feet. He stared at the angel, who was curiously looking at a fixed point. He was suddenly stroke by an enormous wish to kiss him, which he shook out of his head. It was usually easier to ignore those thoughts, they were louder now, intensifying with every single mile-second he wasted staring at the man. No. He swallowed and took a deep breath. _No_.

“Dude, what is it?” he asked, forcing himself to act normal

“Is that the girl you were talking about, Dean?”

The other man turned, and there she was, smiling softly, that curious look on her brown eyes.

“Hello Dean. Hello Castiel.” She greeted

“What are you? What are you doing?” asked Castiel

“My job. You see, you are making it _really_ hard. I don’t usually need to do anything but tie them. Usually a little bit of fate here and there, a little of luck if they are being stubborn. But you two? Never seen someone so willing to fight fate.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Dean

“You know, every time I come to the mortal world, I just make my own job harder. Now everyone is meeting too soon. People are cancelling dinners and planning trips.”

“We will send you an _I’m sorry_ card. All you need to do is tell us how to kill you.”

She laughed. A teen-laugh, loud and exaggerated, that echoed around and filled the whole park. The small girl seemed to grown as she spoke “Kill me? You can’t kill me, Winchester, I’m not one of those monsters you hunt.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.”

She was back at her original small size, her smile being once again small and her eyes just glowing lightly “I’m not an enemy, Dean. I’m _fate_. And you’ve been running from fate for all your life, but it catches up on you.”

“Been there, done that. The whole _apocalypse_ thing didn’t work much either.”

“It’s not that kind of fate” she said, shaking her head and sighing “You might know me as Yue Lao. Google it, I’m sure you can figure it out by yourselves. When you do, I’ll be here to explain.”

  She vanished, and the impossible craving of touching Cas faded slightly, but it was there, not harder than it usually was, but somewhat impossible to ignore, as if the old whispers were now shouts to the wind.

But if there was something Dean was good at was avoiding his problems, so instead he picked his phone and called Sam as both him and Cas ran towards the car. They were there in no time, explaining everything to the younger Winchester.

“Why are you smiling, Sam?” asked Dean

Sam just giggled slightly, trying and failing to keep a straight face as he eyed both Cas and his brother, standing side by side, shoulders touching.

“Nothing.” He coughed before adding in a lower voice, already turning to get his laptop “It’s just… _the red string of fate_.”

“The what?”

“So here, get this: it’s an old myth, Chinese, if I’m not mistaken. It fits with what you were telling me.” Answered Sam in his normal tone, laptop in hand

“Oh.” Said Cas, looking flustered “It does make sense, yes. I should’ve thought about it.”

“Can someone explain it?”

Sam sighed “I did a work for it for high-school. In this myth a young boy meets an old man – Yue Lau, the god of love – who shows him the woman he was destined to love. The boy is far too young and throws a rock at the girl or something. Well, anyway, years later he is going to meet the woman he is supposed to marry, and finds she is the very same woman the old man introduced him to, because she had a scar from when someone attacked her with a rock.”

Dean stares at Sam for a while “What the fuck. Old man shows kid his love, the kid _hits her with a rock_ , but they still get married? Guess that’s true love to you. What does this have to do with anything?”

“In the tale Yue Lau, explains that the boy and the girl were connected by a red string, one that would bound them for live. It was the god’s job to unite them forever. The lend repeats itself in a few cultures, with modifications, of course, there is a Jewish version…  Bashert” he named if after a few seconds at google “to point how some couples were destined to be together… a match made in heaven kind of thing”

Dean blinked a couple of times, occasionally seeing a glimpse of the red string strongly ties on his finger, following obstinately to Cas’.

“You don’t think that Yao Lin dude got anything to do with it, do you? I mean, you said he looked as an old man.”

“Yue Lau.” Corrected Sam “And I don’t know, Dean, I mean, it fits everything you told me so far. Red string, fate… She even gave you her name! If she is a god she can very well change her appearance.”

“It would explain why the people here are so happy” pointed Cas in a low voice, avoiding looking at Dean “Her presence should be similar to the cupid’s: They find it harder to avoid the pull towards someone: hence how many couples are new and happy, they were bonded.”

“Not everyone that was happy was in a romantic relationship,” pointed Dean

“Because the idea that only _romantic_ love is worth my time is _totally_ old fashioned” said a voice right by his side. “I mean, what is this? The fifth century Europe?”

The three of them turned to look towards the voice. The girl was there, in her usual clothes with her big eyes and mysterious smile. She pulled a chair and sat casually, not bothered by the looks the three man were giving her. Dean could see by the corner of his eyes strings running through the room – his usual red-one, connected to Cas, was one of them. But now he could see a blue one, tying his up with his brother – who had two other blue strings going to god’s know where, disappearing on the walls, and a faded-red string, falling broken on his finger.

“Hi, Sam, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” She greeted “You’ve always been wonderful to my job. I’m sorry for… well, it was not in my plans.”

Sam stared at his hands, noticing the broken string “Jess…” he whispered, touching it with the other hand, a little surprised to see he could feel its weight.

The girl nodded slightly “In another universe you and her are just fine.” She whispered guiltily “I made sure of that.”

“Are you actually Yue Lau?” asked Cas

Dean noticed how his hand carried only a red string, lacking the blue ones Sam and he carried on their hands.

“That’s a name for me, yes. You might know me for a Morai, Lachesis, for the greeks, Decima for the Romans, Doyla for the Slavic… But no one has gotten the legend quite as right as the Chinese. So, yes, Yue Lau is more appropriated.” She answered

“How come you’re not an old Chinese dude?” Asked Dean

She shrugged “I was that for over a millennium, wanted some change. Don’t worry, Winchester, my body belongs to me, this is not a human vessel.”

“Great. How do we kill you?” asked Dean again, grabbing a knife from inside his combat boots”

She rolled her eyes “I told you, you can’t. Besides, I’m not here to harm anyone, I’m here because you are _really, really_ stubborn.” Dean stared at her in confusion, and she sighed deeply, her head falling on her hands “Ok. Let’s explain it in simple words. Everyone on this planet has a soulmate. Most have more. There are different kinds of soulmates, but they all end up meeting one way or the other. They pull each other closer, it’s inevitable. No matter what universe they are in, they shall meet. Now, there are two kinds of soulmates: the blue string, the you have with your brother, that one is for platonic bonds. That doesn’t mean people connect with this string _can’t_ fall in love together, it only means they weren’t destined to, it won’t be a universal constant, but that doesn’t make it less real. The second one is the famous red string. It connects two people who are destined to fall in love. In every universe.”

Dean blushed. It had been ages since he felt the redness creeping all the way through his neck and up his face to the point of his ears. He stared at his hand: Two blue strings, one red one. The red one connecting him straight with Cas.

“Cas and I aren’t a couple!” he protested

“Not yet. I usually don’t interfere when people decide to ignore their feelings. It happens, not everyone who falls in love dates, you know? But a _Winchester_ and an _angel_? No, you two are too big to just ignore. Besides, a strong bond such as yours being ignored was driving me up to the walls. So Sam and I will go for a walk and you two can sort everything out, deal?”

She didn’t wait for an answer, getting up from the chair and walking towards the door, turning her back to all three man casually. She stopped by the open door. “Are you coming, Sam?”

The younger brother gave a look to Dean, who tried to protest, but got up anyways, patting both man on the back and saying “Good luck.” Before he left after the girl, closing the door behind him. The blue string they shared following Sam through the walls as if it had no matter at all.

Dean stared at Cas for what seemed like the longest seconds of his life, the string still painfully red connecting them both. Cas stared back, big, blue eyes lingering for a long time, and for a glimpse of a second, Dean actually thought he was going to pull him by the jacket and kiss him right there. Somehow the idea didn’t sound that awful, or awful at all, really.

“Listen, Dean” said Cas, and any thought about the angel pulling him into a kiss faded away with the sound “I know you don’t feel that way. That’s ok, I can talk to Yue Lau and…”

“Wait. Do you?” interrupted Dean before he could stop himself

“Do I what?”

Dean coughed, blushing slightly “Do you… you know… love me?”

“Oh. I thought that much as obvious.”

Dean’s eyes widen “No. Not at all. Dammit Cas, that’s the kind of thing you tell people.”

“I always assumed you knew. But that’s ok, because you don’t feel the same so…” Cas stopped talking as he stared at the uncertain face Dean was pulling “Dean?”

It took him a while to answer “What if… What if I, you know.” He blurred out, blushing harder “What If I do. Fell the same, I mean?”

“Oh.” Said Cas after an awkward silence “Do you?”

“I don’t know… I mean, yeah, I guess…” Stated Dean, and they proceeded to stare at each other for a while before he coughed and added “I’m… I’m going to kiss you now, ok?”

And he didn’t let the Angel answer, because If he waited for half a second he might lose the strength to concur the few feet between them and _finally_ kiss him. Cas didn’t seem to mind at all, because it was a matter of milliseconds before there were hands on his neck and hair and he was kissing back with both a hunger Dean didn’t know Cas had in him and a passion he was not used to.

Dean’s hands were still resting on Cas hips and neck when they broke up, not moving too much apart. When he spoke, his lips touched slightly Cas’ “We’re both stupid, aren’t we?”

“Yes.” Said a third voice, and the girl and Sam were back at the – now opened- door. She carried the same mysterious smile, but her eyes were soft and satisfied. Sam had a huge, proud grin on his face, looking at both man.

“I have to say: finally.” Laughed Sam “Now all that’s left is for me to be the _official_ third wheel. Which is better than being the unofficial one, I guess. Don’t fuck on the kitchen. Please.”

And with that note, he started packing his bags again, ready to go back to the bunker and have a proper night of sleep on a _real_ bed.

“Don’t forget what I told you, Sam” Yue Lau said “A relationship doesn’t have to be made by me to be great. It doesn’t invalidate them; you can still find someone to be happy with. If you need any help, call me, I think I’m getting the hang of how to unite Angels and Hunters.” Sam smiled at her, but tried to hide his blush from his brother without much success “I shall go. I have many other universes to fix, but it was a pleasure. Dean, Castiel, Sam.”

She flashed them a smile before she disappeared, leaving nothing behind. Dean could no longer see the strings connecting them, but he was well aware they were still there, weightless and strong. He coughed, breaking apart from Cas, but leaving a hand on the small of his back.

“So, what was she talking about with the whole _if you need a help thing_?” asked Dean, raising an eyebrow.

Sam’s blush crept to fill his whole face “Nothing.” He answered in a flash “So, you two are a thing?”

Dean looked to Cas right by his side, and let his hand fall from his back to his hand, intertwining their fingers. They both smiled softly. “Yeah” said Dean with a smile

“There wasn’t really a case to work here, but I’m glad I stopped by.” Smiled Cas back

Dean laughed “Oh, you better be.” He said, before he turned and pecked him on the lips, just because, fuck, he could.

Sam snorted in the corner, but the smile on his face was still bright. Dean blushed lightly, but ignored it and smiled at Cas softly, before letting their hands go and moving to pack his things.

“You coming with us to the bunker?” asked Dean, turning to Cas with big eyes.

“I… Yes, I think I will”

Dean smiled at Cas, chuckling a bit when he smiled back.

“I’ll still ride shotgun.” Stated Sam vehemently

Dean laughed, grabbing his green bag and moving towards the door “Whatever you say, Sammy.”

The trio followed to the car, getting set to ride all the way home. Dean stared at his own fingers middle-trip, when they were all talking and laughing and the music was just background noise. He could no longer see the strings, of course, but there something about knowing that they were there… Well, Dean never really cared about fate, he thought, staring at his brother and his… his Cas laughing loudly, but he didn’t care one bit about that one.

 

 


End file.
